IAN Walker’s quest for a second win in four legs was looking more and more likely last night after his crew reeled in Volvo Ocean Race frontrunners Dongfeng.

Warsash skipper Walker and his Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing crew were just three miles adrift of their arch rivals as the sprint to New Zealand from China entered its last few days.

Walker’s crew won the first leg of the 40,000-mile race, then finished third in leg two and second in leg 3.

But Chinese team Dongfeng currently top the overall leaderboard with one leg win and two second places.

Matt Knighton, onboard reporter with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, said that with under 700 miles left to sail to the Auckland finish line the mood onboard the boat was high as tensions begin to mount.

He said: “The mood onboard Abu Dhabi has been optimistic and energetic.

“The quiet gladiatorial competition developing between Dongfeng and us has finally broken out into the open and as we close in on the finish we’re pushing Azzam with a fresh pent-up energy we’ve stored somewhere during the past 18 days of racing.

“This is not a match race. There’s no tactics involved – it’s a pure drag race.”